When Disneyland had opened in 1955, 13 original attractions gave the paying guests the thrills of amusement and entertainment. While some remain in their original design, many stuck to the original amusement ride basics of riding on a motorized track, self-propelled boats or simple merry-go-round formats. As Disney has expanded to dozens of properties and the competition keeps adapting to the times, Disney has made some alterations to its attraction to being all-encompassing. Rides and thrills are now multi-sensory experiences and slowly, more and more are being customized to our own likes and backgrounds. Technology truly has led us to a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.
Welcome to Believe Vacation’s quest to find THE GREATEST DISNEY ATTRACTION OF ALL TIME as we continue with our agent voting results. This week, we look at which Non-Magic Kingdom attractions our agents thought had the best use of technology. Results were then placed into tiers depending on cumulative score.
What year is it? Right around the turn of the century?
TriceraTop Spin – Pretty simple to design a spinning top attraction these days.
Primeval Whirl – An outdoor fairgrounds-like roller coaster that was not the greatest work of the Imagineers.
Living with the Land – The attraction itself is educational and the techniques for farming are innovative but not technologically advanced.
Spaceship Earth – The animatronics are very dated and the only part that screams technology is imagining our future.
The American Adventure – The amount of animatronics in this show is truly impressive but also very dated.
Festival of the Lion King – Relying little on technology, don’t underestimate the greatness of this acrobatic show and performance.
Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros – Donald jumping from screen to screen is cool; just not enough of it.
Kilimanjaro Safaris – Live animals require little technology. A bridge that shakes makes this attraction qualify for tier 1 of this category.
Kali River Rapids – The deforestation scenes are impressive but we’re here for the water man!
A new age of electronic civilization is upon us.
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Journey into Imagination with Figment – Our favorite little dragon is up to no-good in the lab and makes sure that our eyes, ears and nose feel his presence the entire time. Very fun attraction, especially for kids!
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Muppet*Vision 3D – Talking, comical puppets will never not be funny to me. Add into it the 3D effects from the scene and actually happening in the theater will make you want to get things started!
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith – I don’t know if the technology involved with this attraction is as great as we think but it does add to the overall experience of one of the most popular attractions in all the parks!
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Expedition Everest – Since my first time riding it, absolutely loved the fact that the train goes backwards, the track readjusts and the Yeti shows up, once in digital format and one in full-costume. Incredible use of technology!
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Dinosaur – If you’re going to pretend to time travel, technology better be at the forefront of the attraction. Luckily for us, the shooting stars, dinosaurs, breath of the Carnataurus and frantic race before the meteor shower totally immerse us into the Jurassic age.
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Mission: Space – Simulator rides are very creative by giving you a perfect representation of the environment in which you are enclosed. So with the transitions from blast off to actual outer space, this attraction perfectly simulates the journeys of being an astronaut.
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
It’s Tough to Be a Bug – As mentioned with the Muppets, anything 3D is going to be a huge hit for technology scores. In the case of Flick and his friends, we actually become bugs and live and play in their environment. Awesome effects and representations showing us how tough it really is!
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Tower of Terror – Transitioning into the actual Twilight Zone is one of the best scenes of any Disney Attraction. if you think this ride simply drops you a few floors, you have no idea what surprises are in store within the Hollywood Tower Hotel!
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Star Tours – The Adventure Continues – If the Star Wars franchise name is attached, it better have some good technology associated with it. Not just another flight simulator, actual lasers fly through the cabin as you are on a chase throughout the galaxy far, far away!
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Test Track – It’s all about the design in the pre-show and the testing phases here folks. Already a popular Epcot attraction, Test Track completely dominates in terms of the personalization of an attraction and sets a high bar for how technology should be used to get the most out of an experience.
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Turtle Talk with Crush – How do they get a cast member that sounds just like Crush to carry on a conversation with kids throughout a performance? Maybe we should just chalk it up to some of that Disney Magic and creativity by the Imagineers!
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Fantasmic! – I’ve mentioned in several of these countdown posts that Fantasmic may just be the best all-encompassing attraction for a multi-sensory experience. Fire, lasers, waters, live-action and your favorite characters are part of the equation; the technology involved to pull together the show is the main ingredient to it’s success!
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Soarin’ – When this attraction came over from the West Coast, people could not get enough of the simulation of flying over historical landmarks in California. Now that it has been updated to include famous landmarks around the world, Soarin‘ completely turns our seated experience into a flying journey that we never want to end!
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Toy Story Midway Mania! – Just missing the top tier is the most popular attraction at Hollywood Studios. You want to talk technology? How about shrinking to the size of toys and then playing interactive games that keep your personal score, all the while providing you hilarious 4D moments for all your sense to enjoy! Simply amazing and fun!
It’s a Great, Big, Beautiful Tomorrow!
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney World
Frozen Ever After – The predecessor, Maelstrom, was a nice ride with a few fun tricks and treats. But it’s Frozen and they had to completely re-invent everything to make sure it lived up to the standards of the franchise. All we got as a result were the most fluid and pristine animatronics in Disney Park history, ice storm experiences and backwards moving boats! A homerun when it comes to the top of the class for technology at Disney!
Did we miss anything? Which attractions are we not giving enough technological credit for? Leave your comments in the section below and remember that there’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!
